Illinois will not have to turn over its statewide voter registration database to the U.S. Department of Justice after a federal judge dismissed the government’s lawsuit Friday, leaving the personal information of roughly 8 million registered voters protected.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Lawless ruled that the Justice Department lacks the legal authority under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to compel the Illinois State Board of Elections to release its statewide voter registration database. She dismissed the case with prejudice, preventing the DOJ from bringing the same claim again in district court.
The records sought by the DOJ included Illinois voters’ driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
The ruling marks the Justice Department’s 19th consecutive courtroom defeat in its nationwide effort to obtain statewide voter registration databases. DOJ has sought the records from at least 48 states and Washington, D.C., arguing it needs them to enforce federal voting laws. Election officials and civil rights groups have argued the requests exceed the department’s legal authority and jeopardize voters’ privacy.
“[The] ruling is a critical victory for the privacy rights of every Illinois voter,” said Ami Gandhi, director of Strategic Initiatives and the Midwest Voting Rights Program with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
“By rejecting this demand, the court has sent a clear message that our democratic process will not be weaponized to harass or suppress Illinois voters, particularly naturalized citizens and people returning home from incarceration who are disproportionately targeted by these efforts,” Gandhi said.
Not every state has resisted. At least 13 states, including Indiana have provided or agreed to provide their full voter files to the DOJ.
In Indiana, Secretary of State Diego Morales handed over the name, address, date of birth, driver’s license number and last four digits of Social Security numbers for every registered voter in the state at the request of the DOJ.
“If providing the Justice Department information can help Indiana ensure our voter lists are accurate and up to date, we will do so,” Morales said after releasing the information in 2025.
No legal action was brought in Indiana.
The judge’s ruling
In a 14-page opinion, Lawless dismissed the lawsuit against Bernadette Matthews, executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections, and the intervenor defendants. The judge also rejected the DOJ’s argument that its records request deserved special treatment, ruling instead that the department must meet the same legal standards as any other party filing a lawsuit.
The ACLU of Illinois and the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights served as co-counsel representing intervenors with concerns about voter access and privacy.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 18, was one piece of a broader Trump administration effort to assert federal authority over state-run elections. The Justice Department has requested full voter registration lists from at least 48 states and Washington, D.C., and has sued roughly 30 of them for refusing to comply, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which tracks the DOJ’s request for voter data.
DOJ has appealed at least three of its previous district court losses in these cases; it had not indicated as of Friday whether it plans to appeal the Illinois ruling.
